Adjustable jaw for clamping fixtures on workbenches



H. E. CLAUSS Sept. 15, 1953 ADJUSTABLE JAW FOR CLAMPING FIXTURES ON WORKBENCHES 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 12, 1949 INVENTOR.

$66 wn n n u nm H. E. CLAUSS Sept. 15, 1953 ADJUSTABLE JAW FOR CLAMPING FIXTURES ON WORKBENCHES Filed April 12, 1949 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 \w m NW ww 01 1 NW- MN IN V EN T 0R. fife/v4 (240.55.

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Patented Sept. 15, 1953 ADJUSTABLE JAW FOR CLAMPING FIXTURES ON WORKBENCHES Herman E. Clauss, Alfton, Mo.

Application April 12, 1949, Serial No. 87,095

1 Claim. 1

My present invention relates to improvements in clamping fixtures for Workbenches, and, more particularly to work-piece positioning and holding means thereof, and has for an object the clamping of a work-piece of various lengths and widths from both ends and from opposite side faces thereof, and if desirable supporting the work-piece at its lower side.

An important object of the invention i to provide a clamp jaw cooperating with a stationary channel member secured to the front face of a workbench top and which is adjustable at an angle to the channel member to clamp work-pieces of various widths therebetween, and which is automatically adjustable for selectin its clamping position on a supporting member carried by a slidably adjustable body member supported by the channel member.

A further object of the invention is to provide a pair of identical clamping fixtures including sliding jaws therefor which will quickly and conveniently adjust themselves for clamping a work-piece between a stationary facing member secured to the front face of a bench top serving as a guide and supporting member for manually adjustable body members holding supporting members for the sliding jaws, and which jaws are movable at an angle toward and away from the longitudinal axis of the guide and supporting member. I

A further object of the invention is to provide a bench clamping fixture which is cheap and simple in construction, easy and quick to operate, highly efiicient, and which will clamp a work-piece from both. ends, the entire length of the back side thereof and end portions of the front side thereof, and which will accommodate work-pieces of various widths and lengths as long as the bench, and to support the work-pieces from the bottom side thereof, if so desired, or necessary.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description.

In the accompanying drawings forming a part of this specification, and in which like numerals are employed to designate like parts throughout the same:

Fig. 1 is a top plan View of one of two like workbench clamp fixtures embodying my invention, the self closing jaw thereof being shown in cross-section.

Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is an end view of the clamp fixture taken from the right hand end of Fig. 1, and

2 showing the self closing jawmember in position to accommodate the thickest work-piece that can be held between two opposed clamp fixtures.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of two clamp fixture units showing the sliding jaw member of each unit in several of its adjusted positions to accommodate work-pieces of various thicknesses.

Fig. 5 is a bottom plan view of the stationary member of the adjustable clamping jaw of each clamp unit.

Fig. 6 is an inner face view of the same.

Fig. 7 is an outer end view of the same.

Fig. 8 is a top plan View of the self closing or adjustable clamp jaw member.

Fig. 9 is an inner side elevation of the same.

Fig. 10 is an outer end view of the same.

Fig. 11 is an end View of the slidable jaw member looking in the direction of the arrow inFig.8.

In the drawings, wherein for the purpose of illustration, is shown a preferred embodiment of my invention, wherein the numeral H designates the front edge portion of a workbench of any desired length. The numeral 12 designates a channeled guide and supporting member having spaced front vertical flanges 13. The mainber I2 is secured to the front face I i of the workbench top H so as to be supported in a vertical position on the front face thereof.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings, identical fixtures designated generally as 15 each comprise a clamp jaw supporting body or member which is mounted and longitudinally slidable on the channel member [2 and manually movable back and forth thereon in front of the guide, or supporting member l2. Each body It has the back side thereof provided with a rib it to ride between the spaced flanges 43 on the channel member I2, and the inner side of the rib is provided with opposed vertically arranged flanges l1 to slide within the channel guide member, or support l2, so as to support the body l5 in its operative position in front thereof in a hori zontal position.

Each body l5 of the fixture, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 may be provided at its outer end with a trigger l8, pivoted as at H9, in a slot 2E), and provided at its inner end with a cam portion 2i having serrations in its cam surface to engage the inner face of the back wall of the channel member l2 to hold the body against slipping in its selected position thereon.

The trigger l8 is held in normal holding posi tion by means of a suitable spring disposed he tween the outer end portion of the trigger and the outer end of the body, as clearly shown in Fig. 1. To release the trigger, finger pulling pressure is applied thereto to move the trigger forwardly, which releases the serrated cam surface thereof from contact with the channel member l2 permitting thereby easy manual sliding movement in either direction of the body l5 on the channel guide, or support member I2.

The body l5 is also provided with a pair of spaced vertically disposed bosses 22 having vertical openings to receive guide posts 23 which support a work gripping plate 24 that overlies the body l5, the guide member [2 and the front portion of the table top so that a work-piece may be held in position on the top face of the bench top to be worked upon. is locked in any selected vertically adjusted position by means of a thumb-screw 25. The'inner end of the body I5 is provided with a head portion 26 having a central horizontal bore 21 to provide a socket, and the socket head carries a thumb-screw 28.

In carrying out an important feature of the present invention, I provide a supporting member 29 and a slidable jaw member designated, generally as 31], which is mounted for movement on the supporting member. The supporting member 29 is provided at its inner end with a cylindrical shank 3! which is detachably carried by the socket head 29 of the body [5 and locked against displacement by the thumb-screw 28.

The body portion of the supporting member 29 is provided with an inner face 32 which is dis posed at an angle to the axis of the shank 3!, which angle is shown as forty-five degrees with relation to the axis of the shank 3i, although not limited thereto. The inner face of the supporting member 29 is provided with a longitudinal dovetailed groove 33, and the bottom face of the dovetailed groove is provided with a longitudinal groove 34, the ends of which serve as stops designated 35 and 36 for a ball 31 partly carried in the bottom of an opening 38 in the slidable jaw member 39 and partly riding in the groove 34 and held under the pressure of a spring 39 backed by a screw 40, as shown in Fig.

The jaw member 39 is designed for sliding movement on the angularly disposed inner face 32 of the supporting member 29 for movement toward and away from the front face of the guide and supporting member H2. The sliding jaw member 36 has an angular face 41 corresponding to the angle of the face 32 of the supporting member 29 and the face it is provided with a dove-tailed tongue 42 which is receivable in the dove-tailed groove 33 on the inner face of the supporting member 29, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and l of the drawings.

The inner side of the slidable jaw member 33 is fashioned in stepped formation so as to provide two right angular cutouts. One of the cutouts provides an inner right angular jaw portion having work clamping faces 43 and 44, and the other cutout portion of the jaw provides a second, or outer right angular jaw portion having work clamping faces 45 and 46. It will be noted that the jaw faces 43 and 45 are at right angles to the stationary guide or support member 12 and that the jaw faces 44 and 46 are parallel with the stationary guide supporting member 12 secured to the front face of the bench top H. Also, it will be noted that the jaw face 43 is of less height than the jaw face 45 as shown in Figs. 9 and ll, providing thereby a jaw portion in the form of a rearwardly directed tongue 41 as shown in Figs.

' face of the channeled guide and supporting mem- One of the posts 23 ber I2 and the jaw face 44. The side face of the work is clamped by jaw face 63 and the end portions of the outer face of the work is clamped by the jaw face 44.

A work-piece designated B and shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4 which is wider than the sliding jaw tongue 41 will be accommodate when in its outermost position and may be held and clamped between the front face of the channeled guide and supporting member [2 and the parallel jaw face 46 on the sliding jaw member 30.

An important feature of the invention resides in the fact that the sliding jaw members 30 are self adjustable. When one of the clamp fixture bodies I5 is locked to the guide and supporting member [2, and a work-piece is held against the sliding jaw thereof, the other clamp body l5 may be manually moved toward the first mentioned clamp body 15 causing the sliding jaw members 30 to self adjust themselves with the work-piece therebetween to move the work into contact with the guide and supporting member l2 in clamped position between the sliding jaw members 30.

In order to further support the work-piece, I provide the bottom face of each supporting member 29 with a screw-threaded opening 48 to which may be screw-threadedly connected a depending rod 49 which may carry a rotatable and vertically adjustable work rest plate 50 and which may be locked in its adjusted position by means of a set screw 5|.

The end face of the socket end of the body members l5 may be provided with openings 52, and the sliding jaw supporting members 29 may be provided with projecting pins 53 receivable in selected openings in the body members l5. This arrangement permits the sliding jaw supporting members to be rotated to and held in selected positions so that the work clamping faces 44 and 46 may be held parallel with the front face of the guide member 12 or at an angle thereto, as desired.

It is to be understood that the form of my invention herewith shown and described is to be taken as a preferred example of the same, and that various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of the parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of my invention, or the scope of the appended claim.

The many advantages of the herein described invention will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

What I claim is:

In a fixture of the character described, a member having a body provided with a cylindrical shank at one side thereof, said body at another side having a dovetailed guideway disposed at an acute angle to the longitudinal axis of the shank, the guideway having an elongated facial recess parallel with and midway the side edges of the guideway, a jaw having a plurality of right angular work engaging faces at one side thereof and having a dovetailed tongue at another side Number Name Date which is disposed at an angle to the work engag- 727,986 Makowsky May 12, 1903 m faces and having sli ng engagement with 1,109,061 Hanrahan Sept. 1, 1914 the ideway, and yi l n ly pp ted mean 1,184,535 Jorgensen May 23, 1916 carried by the dovetailed tongue slidably engage- 5 1,392,233 St art Sept, 27, 1921 able in the aforesaid facial recess to lim t slid- 2,039,121 Hartung Aug. 3, 1937 ing movement of the jaw relative to the aforesaid 2,344,0 4 s h l ar, 14, 1944 body. 2,486,634 Clauss Nov. 1, 1949 HERMAN E. CLAUSS.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 638,835 Caran Dec. 12, 1899 15 

